Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for the illuminating of a wheel of a vehicle. In particular, this invention pertains to a modification of the wheel of a vehicle that incorporates an illumination source that moves with the wheel; the utilization of the vehicle""s stationarily mounted power supply; utilization of an insulated ground electrical system; utilization of multiple moveable electrical contacts within an insulated ground system to connect the movable wheel illumination source with the vehicle""s stationarily mounted electrical power supply; and the utilization of electronic circuitry to prevent reoccurring de-illumination due to electrical arcing occurring within the illumination system when the invention is in use on a vehicle moving at higher speeds.
2. Background
The illumination of automotive wheels for advertising novelty, decoration, safety, and assistance in maintenance has been established from the earliest days of the automobile. Some wheel illumination systems utilize an electrical light or illumination source that was affixed or mounted to the wheel or hub thereby causing the illumination source to move in conjunction with the wheel. These systems used a movable contact electrical connection to provide electrical power from the vehicle""s stationarily mounted electrical power supply to the movable illumination source that was wheel or hub mounted. These systems invariably used a common ground by which the illumination source was grounded either through the wheel and/or hub to return the ground through the vehicle""s axle and frame to complete the electrical circuit to the vehicle""s stationarily mounted electrical power supply.
The movable contact electrical connections used in such inventions generally consisted of a stationary electrical contact brush or ring insulatedly mounted on the vehicle""s frame, axle or suspension and a power ring or band insulatedly mounted to move with the wheel itself. The contact brush or ring was electrically connected to the vehicle""s stationarily mounted electrical system so as to provide electrical power to the power ring that was in constant moveable contact with the electrical contact brush or ring. The power ring, generally, was insulatedly mounted on the wheel or hub or was mounted between the wheel or hub so as to allow the power ring to turn with the wheel. The power ring, because it was electrically connected to the movable wheel illumination source, transmitted the power from the electrical contact brush or ring to the movable wheel illumination source.
Examples of this type of movable electrical contact connector as used in illumination devices include: Bell, U.S. Pat. No. 3,099,401, which insulatedly mounted a power band on the exterior side rim of a hub-mounted brake drum to be in movable contact with a suspension-mounted electrical contact brush; Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 2,083,514 and Senseman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,389, which insulatedly mounted an insulated power ring on the underside of the hub-mounted brake drum to be in movable contact with an electrical contact brush attached to the suspension mounted brake backing plate; Styer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 1,643,593 and Leeman, U.S. Pat. No. 1,539,394, which mounted the power ring on the back of a wooden wheel so as to be in movable contact with an electrical contact brush mounted on the vehicle""s suspension.
Other types of movable contact electrical connectors used in wheel illumination devices include, Scott, U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,153, which used an insulating disk that was located in between the wheel and the hub. The insulated disk featured a stationarily mounted electrical power ring and a rotatably mounted electrical contact ring, the power ring being in constant rotateable contact with the contact ring. The contact ring freely rotated on the insulated disk in such a manner as to allow the contact ring to remain stationary in respect to the vehicle while the insulated disk and power ring moved with the wheel.
Williams, U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,630, discloses a wheel illumination device, which in one embodiment for vehicles with hub mounted wheels, (such as trucks and cars), featured a plate that was sandwiched between the wheel and the hub. The plate stationarily mounted a power ring and held it in constant movable contact with an electrical contact brush that was stationarily mounted on the vehicle""s suspension. In another embodiment, for use on motorcycles, the device directly affixed the plate to the wheel.
Generally, these wheel illumination devices rely on a common ground electrical system that utilizes a single, insulated, movable, contact electrical connector to provide power from the vehicle""s electrical system to the wheel illumination source. While this common ground system used an insulated power lead, it used an uninsulated ground return in which the illumination source is directly grounded to the wheel and/or hub to return the ground through the vehicle""s suspension to complete the circuit with the vehicle""s stationarily mounted electrical system.
Most modem automobiles no longer use such a common ground electrical power system and instead use the isolated ground electrical power system. The isolated ground system does not allow the ground to be commonly returned through the body of the vehicle, rather, the isolated ground systems use insulated means to transmit the power and to return the ground to the vehicle""s electrical power system. The modem automobile relegates the common ground electrical applications to limited applications such as the automotive computer systems that control automotive systems such as ABS braking system, proportional speed control, PTC (power train control), environmental systems, and lights.
The cited prior art also has limited capacity for the illumination design in that the light source is either mounted behind the wheel, to shine between the spokes of the wheels, or it is placed on the exterior of the wheel or hub.
Further, when the brush-ring type electrical connector systems are used, as cited in the wheel illumination inventions above, on motor vehicles traveling at speeds in excess of twenty miles per hour, an undesired, non-continuous illumination of the wheel can occur. This non-continuous illumination is caused when the wheel featuring the brush-ring type connector rotates at a speed sufficient to cause the connector brush to skip or jump out of continuous contact with the conductive rings. The jumping of the brush permits an electrical arcing to occur between the brush and the ring connector; the arcing being caused by the momentary reversal of the electrical flow between the brush and the ring connector when the two are separated. It is believed that this arcing causes an electrical resistance to accumulate within the brush to such a level as to be sufficient to momentarily and completely block the flow of electricity from the brush into the ring connector. The electrical blockage caused by the reoccurring build-up of resistance results in the unwanted, temporary, de-illumination of the wheel. To the observer, this temporary de-illumination of the wheel gives the optical appearance of rotating, broken bands of light instead of the desired continuous circular bands of light.
Further, the arcing that is caused by the momentary separation of the brush connector from the ring connector can cause physical damage to both the brush and ring connector surfaces. This cumulative damage leads to increased wear of the connectors.
It is a principle object of the present invention to provide an electrical illumination system for vehicle wheels that can provide a wide variety of wheel illumination designs and can be used on nearly any type of wheel.
It is an object of this invention to use an insolated ground electrical system that is compatible with modem automotive electrical systems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a more reliable illumination system that has greater resistance to dirt, grit and vibration.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electrical system that can provide power to a rotating, wheel mounted illumination system from a non-rotating vehicle electrical power source.
It is yet another object of this invention to use an electrical system that will reduce the possibility of interfering with the modem automotive computer system.
It is still yet a further object of this invention to have a system that provides for greater ease in the removal and replacement of the illuminated wheel.
It is another object of this invention to use multiple, movable electrical contact connectors to conduct power from and return the ground to the vehicle to the wheel illumination source that rotates with the wheel.
It is another object of this invention to be able to operate on a vehicle traveling at high speeds.
It is another object of this invention to use circuitry that allows the electrical system of the invention to provide constant and controlled illumination by the invention when the vehicle on which the invention mounted travels at high speed.
It is another object of the invention to use circuitry that will prevent back-arcing between the electrical contacts and compensates for an electrical shortage through the discharge of electricity into the electrical system when a momentary electrical stoppage occurs.
It is another object of the invention to operate on a motor vehicle moving at high speed and to provide constant electrification of the wheel illumination device when the vehicle upon which it is mounted is moving at high speed.
It is an another object of this invention to operate on a motor vehicle at high speed and to provide uninterrupted illumination of the wheel.
It is another object of this invention to provide a means of preventing the reoccurring build-up of electrical resistance within the wheel illumination system.
It is still another object of this invention to prevent electrical arcing from occurring within the wheel illumination system,
It is an object of this invention to provide a wheel illumination system that does not fail or break apart when the wheel upon which the invention is mounted rotates at revolutions higher than twenty miles per hour.
It is a further object of this invention to prevent the premature wearing of the electrical connectors of the wheel illumination system.